Motorola Says Layoffs A 'Temporary Situation'

February 17, 1985|By David Gibson Staff Writer

BOYNTON BEACH — Except for the hardship faced by the 125 laid-off workers, observers do not expect Motorola Inc.'s recent 10 percent reduction in force at its Boynton Beach plant to have a significant effect on the economy in the area.

Motorola's paging division, which handles research, development and manufacturing of the company's line of pagers and paging terminals, is headquartered here. Company officials said the layoffs were a temporary measure that became necessary when sales failed to match projections.

The plant opened in September 1983. The decision by the company to locate here was hailed by local officials and community members as the Impetus to spur development in the area.

"Motorola's decision [to locate here] made a significant statement about the potential of this community," Boynton Beach City Manager Peter Cheney said.

Cheney -- and others -- said that Although Motorola played a major role in putting the city on the development map, the layoffs will not have an equally significant effect on Boynton's economy.

"With all the development going on, I don't think that 125 to 150 people [being laid off] will have a significant impact. You can't take one thing and say it means much. This is a regional economy," Cheney said., "The fact that they laid off 125 people doesn't suggest to me that they have problems. It suggests to me they have a full warehouse."

Lance Dehaven-Smith, associate director of the Florida Atlantic University-Florida International University Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems said the layoffs do not signal bad tidings for the local economy.

"A small layoff like that, unless it's indicative of a lonqer trend, I don't think it's that significant,' Dehaven-Smith said.

Dehaven-Smith said the "unfortunate aspect is it's in a core industry, and if that core is hurt, there is a ripple effect."

Company spokesman George Mahoney called the layoffs a "very temporary situation." He said it comes In response to a "softening of the market" and the company remains committed to its planned expansion to 5,000 employees. "This in no way affects our long-range growth," he said.

At the time of the layoffs, about 1,200 people were employed at the plant.

Mahoney said that last week the company began a "short-time" program with about 190 employees who will work 32-hour weeks rather than the normal 40-hour week.

He said the short-time program was intiated to avoid further layoff in the Boynton Beach plant.

During the course of the sbort-time program, he said, employees will receive all their other normal benefits and will be "partially compensated" for the time they do not work. The program could be rotated among different employees according to the production needs of the plant, he said.

Mahoney emphasized that the measures were just temporary. "Many times between the today situation and tomorrow's, with the national economy and fluctuating sales, you're bound to have peaks and valleys."